Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Studious Metsimus/My Summer Family World Tour Invades Baltimore

As some of you may know, the owners/creators/grounds crew of Studious Metsimus and the more superior Mets blog, My Summer Family, spent the weekend in Merry-Land, cheering the Mets on to victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

In the land of crab cakes, crab pretzels and all things crabby, the Mets eschewed the broom for a mallet as they won all three games from the O-no-rioles.

The sweep represented the first consecutive road victories for the Mets since they won the last two games of their series against the Houston Astros last July 25 and 26. It was also their first road sweep since taking three games from the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park (LESS FILLING! TASTES GREAT!) in early September 2008.

Let's give you a photo recap of some of the more memorable moments of the Studious Metsimus/My Summer Family World Tour as it made its way into Charm City.

We reached Oriole Park at Camden Yards in the early afternoon and felt like we were at home. Some of this had to do with the fact that the exterior of the ballpark (colors, bricks) reminded us of Citi Field, but most of it was because of the abundance of Mets fans who made their way into Baltimore for the series. At one point, we even overheard some traffic cops at an intersection saying "for every Orioles fan I see, there seem to be ten Mets fans." They weren't kidding. Mets fans were EVERYWHERE!

Numerous Mets players were on the field, either stretching or taking batting practice. Our cameras were out in full force capturing the pre-game action, as you will see below (clockwise from top left: Pedro Feliciano stretching in the outfield; the players running off the field; hitting coach Howard Johnson walking into the dugout; Johan Santana saluting the fans).

After taking two close games on Friday and Saturday, winning by the final scores of 5-1 and 3-1, respectively, the Mets' bats came alive in the series finale on Sunday, pounding out 18 hits in their 11-4 thrashing of the Orioles.

The offensive explosion by the Mets was good enough to elicit these smiles from the headliners of the Studious Metsimus/My Summer Family World Tour (from left to right, Joey's Colleague, Joey and The Coop).

Of course, no post on the ongoing tour would be complete without a special edition of Joey's Soapbox. Here to share his Camden Yards experience with you is my colleague, Joey Beartran.

JOEY'S SOAPBOX JOEY'S SOAPBOX JOEY'S SOAPBOX JOEY'S SOAPBOX

Joey's Soapbox

Thank you for the kind introduction, o esteemed Studious Metsimus colleague. Of course, by now most of our readers looking for my segment have probably left to pursue other reading interests. Or maybe they're watching the Mets game. For those SMFs who are still here, welcome to the latest installment of Joey's Soapbox.

As you can see from the photo above, I was invited to join the World Tour as it invaded Baltimore. Our tour bus dropped us off in the sweltering downtown Baltimore area, making me regret the fact that I was still wearing my long-sleeved Mets hoodie.

No matter. Joey Beartran was in town and I wasn't leaving without a victory or three. Next stop, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which was just an Ike Davis blast away from Baltimore's Inner Harbor. (But first, we had to make a pit stop for food. Even bear bloggers have to eat sometime.)

I was amazed to see how friendly all the people were in the town known as Charm City. Even restaurants welcomed us on their blackboards (see photo, right). They must have known that we were going to review them in a blog so they went all out to impress us.

However, for all the effort they put into welcoming our entourage with their Mid-Atlantic hospitality, they forgot the most important thing. Two words. GENEROUS PORTIONS. I mean, look at the photo below.

That picture was taken before I had taken a bite. What were they trying to do? Give me one french fry for every win the Orioles had this year? (That would be 17 fries. Speaking of 17, RETIRE IT!) Needless to say, I will slightly disappointed with this aspect of the Tour De Baltimore.

After the snack that was supposed to be my dinner, we made it to the ballpark, where I made sure that my presence was felt.

Since my dinner/snack hadn't filled me up, at first glance I thought the sign above said "Home of The Oreos". Again, I was disappointed.

Not all was lost. While walking around the concourse level near Eutaw St. (that's the street where the warehouse behind the right field area is located), I ran into the Mets' SNY/WPIX roving reporter, Kevin Burkhardt (see photo, below left). I also found out what he does when he's not on camera (see photo, below right).

Kevin was very gracious by posing with me twice. Mad props go out to KB for helping to make my Baltimore experience more pleasurable. (Note to our readers: I apologize to those who can't see what the front of the cow costume says because I was blocking it in the shot. It actually says "EAT MOR CHIKIN", which is the intentionally misspelled slogan for Chick-fil-A. I wouldn't have blocked it had it said "EAT MORE CHICKEN NACHOS".)

Next, it was time to get to the field level. I must say, the ushers/security at Camden Yards were much more accommodating than the ones at Citi Field. They let me climb the foul pole and sit on top of the Mets dugout while the team was taking batting practice. Not once did they ask me to move (see photos below). Can you imagine that happening at Citi Field?

Oriole Park at Camden Yards may not have the great food selection that Citi Field has. The same can be said for the restaurants surrounding the ballpark. However, one thing is for sure. If you want to travel anywhere in the country to feast on bad pitching, then Baltimore is the place to be.

The Mets outscored the Orioles in the three-game series by thirteen runs (19-6) and never trailed in any of the three games. The team did so well on the field that they didn't even notice when I tried to get on it.

Hats off to the Orioles and their fans (all three of them) for providing me with a great weekend getaway. The Mets also helped in my weekend experience by proving that they can indeed win on the road, making future stops on the Studious Metsimus/My Summer Family World Tour far more than just a dining experience for me. Now, in addition to sampling the local fare at every stop the Tour makes, we might be sampling a victory or three.

On behalf of my Studious Metsimus colleague and the lovely My Summer Family hostess, I'd like to thank you for being a part of our World Tour. Which city will we invade next? For that, you'll have to keep reading Studious Metsimus. Until then, this is Joey Beartran, reminding you to EAT MOR CHIKIN NACHOS. (Just don't eat mine!)

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Actually, I guess you are...

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